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In the theory of Margo Schulter, interseptimal is a category of intervals which occupy regions intermediate between two septimal ratios such as 8/7 and 7/6, or 12/7 and 7/4. There are four interseptimal regions given below, with approximate cents ranges from Schulter's article Regions of the Interval Spectrum:
  1. Maj2-min3 -- intermediate between 8/7 and 7/6 -- 240¢-260¢
  2. Maj3-4 -- intermediate between 9/7 and 21/16 -- 440¢-468¢
  3. 5-min6 -- intermediate between 32/21 and 14/9 -- 732¢-760¢
  4. Maj6-min7 -- intermediate between 12/7 and 7/4 -- 940¢-960¢

Interseptimal intervals are well-represented in 24edo at 250¢, 450¢, 750¢ and 950¢. They also appear in 19edo and 29edo.

As they fall in ambiguous zones between simpler categories, they are inevitably xenharmonic. This also makes them difficult to name: do we classify a 250-cent interval as a second, a third, both, or neither? One option is to give each region a distinct name (analogous to using the word tritone rather than diminished fifth or augmented fourth). Possible names that could be used are:

  1. 240¢-260¢ -- semifourth -- an interval of this size is around half the size of a perfect fourth.
  2. 440¢-468¢ -- semisixth -- an interval of this size is around half the size of a major sixth.
  3. 732¢-760¢ -- semitenth -- an interval of this size is around half the size of a major tenth (i. e., compound major third). Another possible name is sesquifourth (since this is also about one and a half times the size of a perfect fourth).
  4. 940¢-960¢ -- semitwelfth -- an interval of this size is around half the size of a perfect twelfth (i e., a compound perfect fifth, or tritave). All even edts have a semitwelfth of approximately 951 cents, analogous to the 600 cent tritone shared by all even edos.

This makes notating these intervals very easy as long as we have an agreed-upon symbol for "semi".

By analogy the tritone could also be called a semioctave, although the term tritone is so well-established that seems is little reason to change it now. A key difference is that the tritone is intermediate between two septimal ratios separated by a jubilisma (50:49), whereas the other interseptimal ranges listed above are between two septimal ratios separated by a slendro diesis (49:48).


Examples

Some interseptimal intervals in all four ranges, both just and tempered, are listed below.

Maj2-min3 - 240¢-260¢

Interval
Cents Value
Prime Limit (if applicable)
147/128
239.607
7
1\5edo
240.000
-
54/47
240.358
47
23/20
241.961
23
1152/1001
243.238
13
38/33
244.240
19
144/125
244.969
5
15/13
247.741
13
6\29edo
248.276
-
5\24edo
250.000
-
52/45
250.304
13
37/32
251.344
37
81/70
252.680
7
4\19edo
252.632
-
22/19
253.805
19
29/25
256.950
29
3\14edo
257.143
-
297/256
257.183
11
36/31
258.874
31
5\23edo
260.870
-

Maj3-4 - 440-468

Interval
Cents Value
Prime Limit (if applicable)
5\88cET or 11\30edo
440.000
-
40/31
441.278
31
7\19edo
442.015
-
31/24
443.081
31
10\27edo
444.444
-
22/17
446.363
17
35/27
449.275
7
3\8edo
450.000
-
48/37
450.611
37
13/10
454.214
13
11\29edo
455.172
-
125/96
456.986
5
8\21edo
457.143
-
56/43
457.308
43
43/33
458.245
43
30/23
459.994
23
5\13edo
461.538
-
47/36
461.597
47
64/49
462.348
7
98/75
463.069
7
17/13
464.428
17
12\31edo
464.516
-
7\18edo
466.667
-
38/29
467.936
29

5-min6 - 732¢-760¢

Interval
Cents Value
Prime Limit (if applicable)
5\Bohlen-Pierce
731.521
-
29/19
732.064
29
11\18edo
733.333
-
19\31edo
735.484
-
26/17
735.572
17
49/75
736.931
7
49/32
737.652
7
72/47
738.403
47
23/15
740.006
23
66/43
741.755
43
43/28
742.692
43
13\21edo
742.857
-
182/125
743.014
5
18\29edo
744.828
-
20/13
745.786
13
37/24
749.389
37
5\8edo
750.000
-
54/35
750.725
7
17/11
753.637
17
17\27edo
755.556
-
48/31
756.919
31
12\19edo
757.895
-
31/20
758.722
31
19\30edo
760.000
-

Maj6-min7 - 940-960

Interval
Cents Value
Prime Limit (if applicable)
18\23edo
939.130
-
31/18
941.126
31
512/297
942.817
11
11\14edo
942.857
-
50/29
943.050
29
19/11
946.195
19
140/81
947.320
7
15\19edo
947.368
-
64/37
948.656
37
45/26
949.696
13
19\24edo
950.000
-
23\29edo
951.724
-
26/15
952.259
13
125/72
955.031
5
33/19
955.760
19
1001/576
956.762
13
40/23
958.039
23
47/27
959.642
47
4\5edo
960.000
-
256/147
960.393
7


See: Interval Category, Gallery of Just Intervals